Twenty-one participants from across County Carlow were awarded their QQI accreditation as part of their Level 4 Certificate in Tourism Visitor Care spearheaded by Carlow County Council in partnership with Carlow Tourism, Carlow Kilkenny Educational Training Board & MyshallMuintirna Tire provided under the County Carlow Town & Village Renewal Scheme recently.
The special purpose award is designed to enable learners to understand the socio-economic benefits of the tourism sector and to appreciate their own role in tourism visitor customer care and was delivered by Carlow Kilkenny Educational Training Board.
Speaking about the programme, Kathleen Holohan, Chief Executive of Carlow County Council said “Carlow County Council is delighted to be able to spearhead the delivery of this programmefor Rural County Carlow and sees building the capacity of communities as an essential element in the development of sustainable rural tourism in our Towns & Villages”. Holohan continued to say,“the tourism industry is of vital importance to County Carlow and supports many jobs in rural communities”.
The project is run under the Town & Village Scheme in partnership with Carlow Tourism and chairperson of Carlow Tourism, Cllr. John Murphy said, “this project is just one of the initiatives being developed by Carlow Tourism under the Town & Village which includes the development of an experiential tourism product for the county, such as walking routes, town trails across a number of locations and attractions in County Carlow”. Murphy continued to say, “we hope to continue this training as part of the 2018/19 Town & Village Scheme and increase the number of people who avail of this Training”.
The Town & Village scheme is co-ordinated by Carlow County Council and attending the presentation, Helen Ryan, Economic Development Officer with the Local Enterprise Office said “having experienced and trained guides is an essential requirement for the County Carlow economy and having trained guides enhances the user experience which hopefully will have the effect that they will prolong their stay in County Carlow which in turn has a spin off economic effect for the County by increased spending by the visitor”.
Speaking about the initiative Eileen O’Rourke, CEO of Carlow Tourism commented, "Knowledge and appreciation of our local tourism assets is vital to a successful and sustainable rural tourism destination. The training of personnel in core, front of house positions can tangibly improve visitor satisfaction levels, enhancing the length of stay by holidaymakers to an area and encouraging positive word of mouth publicity. This certificate in Tourism Visitor Care, which also focused on the Ireland Ancient East brand and its relevance to County Carlow, has assisted in improving the visitor experience at our key attractions and tourism businesses".
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